Thursday, August 17, 2006

Brian over at MGoBlog, besides running one of the best sites out there, somehow has enough time to also run the Blogpoll, a weekly Top 25 culled from a cross section of college football blogs on the Internet.

After much internal disagreement, we submitted our first ballot which was as follows.

Rank

Team

Delta

1

Florida State

25

2

Texas

24

3

Auburn

23

4

Ohio State

22

5

Louisiana State

21

6

Southern Cal

20

7

Notre Dame

19

8

Florida

18

9

West Virginia

17

10

Louisville

16

11

Oregon

15

12

Virginia Tech

14

13

Miami (Florida)

13

14

Iowa

12

15

Michigan

11

16

Oklahoma

10

17

Arizona State

9

18

Texas Tech

8

19

Clemson

7

20

Alabama

6

21

Cal

5

22

Georgia

4

23

Penn State

3

24

Tennessee

2

25

Colorado

1

Dropped Out:

Feel free to chime in as we know that trying to make such predictions in August is akin to picking Lotto numbers.

In a wonderful break from recent history, this year there is no clearly dominant team; indeed, many respected polls have a remarkable mix of teams in their Top 5.

I would be grateful if someone would explain to me the object of pre-season polls: is it a forecast of what the final polls will look like, or is it a best guess of how the different teams currently stack up?

Brad, while I agree Texas may not be a contender, they have as good a shot as anyone at the title (notwithstanding a very tough schedule, albeit made somewhat easier by Bomar's demise). Furthermore, you would be surprised -- at least I was -- by the number of first year starters that have led teams to championships.

I have the same complaints with your poll as I have with Nestor's over at Bruins Nation. Florida's too high (schedule), Iowa is too low, Arizona State is a chronic underachiever, and Va Tech has no QB. Other than that, it's a very solid poll.

I'm thinking LSU @ 1, but most of the top 10 you could almost throw in a hat and pick em out. I think Texas is too high, but your pick of ND at 7 I think is more accurate than most pollsters, because their D is iffy, and their schedule has a couple toughies.

First let me say that I am addicted to this blog. Very funny and insightful, guys.

As for the poll, my 'Horns are too high - they'll be good this year, but not shoe-shoppin' good. If the Buckeyes beat them in Austin, I'll be a believer in tosu - but not until then.

No, this year there are going to be several dark horse teams to watch. First, there's Tennessee. Fat Phil's got the right schedule and Cutcliffe is back. Watch them carefully.

Another darkhorse is Nebraska, whom you don't even have in your poll. The barometer for them will be Texas in Lincoln.

And my third dark horse is Michigan You lost five games last year, but weren't they all by five points or less? Don't you have tosu in A2 this year (see, I'm even getting the lingo down)? Don't you have a butt-load of skill players back?

And as much as I dislike his personality, you've got Lloyd Carr. Whatever it is, he always gets his teams play HARD. Two of the best games I've ever seen involved Carr's guys never, ever giving up. The 2000 Orange Bowl (1999 season) against a good Alabama team. I became a Tom Brady believer that night. What is it about 'Bama vs. Michigan? All great games.

The 2005 Rose Bowl vs. the 'Horns? No losers in that one, ya'll. Lloyd's boys left their guts out on that field that night, too.

My point is this - I think Lloyd will adjust his defense (now that the heat's up a little bit), the schedule is good, and Michigan will always play hard. This is going to be a good year for the Wolverines!

Alright! Go Noles! But seriously, we're not #1. I would've left #1 blank too. But I suppose having FSU at #1 shows just how wide open it is this year. Should be a great season without all the USC sackriding.

Pretty good list, but I do think that pre-season polls are simply to get fans pumped up for the season and sell magazines. How can anyone predict how a team will play when EVERYONE has lost starters is beyond me. I feel rankings should come out AFTER at LEAST one game is played so we see how each team has gelled over the summer.

With that said, I personally think you have ASU too low. Yes, they tend to self-destruct at times. However, you must remember, they really only lost 3 key players (Derek Hagan, Matt Miller and Moey Mutz). They have 2 QBs that EACH threw for over 2000 yards, the only 2 in the nation to accomplish such impressive numbers. They have one of the best LB transfers in the nation with Loren Howard (previously of Northwestern). 4 deep at running back...so good in this position that natural WR Rudy Burgess can now go back to playing WR instead of RB, as he has the last 2 years. Keep your eyes open for them.

SC has lost its 3 headed monster, and most of their starters for the year have yet to play a college game....hmmmm

BUT note, I bleed Maize & Blue and when it comes down to it...I always think Michigan is ranked too low.

Yeah, I think ASU should be in the list, even though they've never proven they can play defense the past four years. But I think their offense is good enough to pull them into the top 25. 17 is about as high as I'd possibly go, though.

Not sure how one could include Colorado (apparently losing your star TEs, QB, and replacing an entire coaching staff isn't a concern?), but completely ignore Nebraska. I'm not claiming that Nebraska is Top 10 material (at this point), just questioning how they could be excluded after defeating CU 30-3 and beating Michigan in the Alamo Bowl. Nebraska returns a substantial/critical portion of both its offense and defense. Just something to consider. Great blog, guys.

Follow the MZone

Subscribe To

The MZone-slash-MichiganZone.net-slash-MichiganZone.blogspot.com is in no way affiliated with the University of Michigan and/or U-M football in any way. If you thought it was, frankly I'm surprised you know how to use a computer.